Merging realities: how AR and VR are transforming gaming as we know it

Yesterday Sony’s long-awaited virtual reality headset for the PS4, Project Morpheus, was revealed to the world. This was a somewhat epic moment in gaming, as it finally brought a technology that has been in the works for decades into the mainstream.

VR has a long history for a technology that has yet to truly take off. The first headset was developed way back in 1968, and examples of the technology have regularly appeared in popular culture since the eighties.

Previous iterations of VR have shared two problems that have been a barrier to mainstream success. The first is price: previous units have simply been too expensive to attract buyers outside of the gaming hardcore.

The second is what Valve, the company behind Steam, Portal and the Half Life series, are calling ‘presence’ – the feeling of being transported to another place that is maintained by adequate resolution, low latency and overall high technical quality. At this level, any motion sickness issues are also resolved.

Valve has been working with Project Morpheus’ main rival, Oculus Rift, which at present is only available as a developer version, but which has wowed reviewers with its Crystal Cove edition that is expected to be released within a year or so.

Although the current version does not quite achieve true presence, Valve expects Crystal Cove to achieve this VR holy grail. It remains to be seen whether Project Morpheus, which is still a prototype with no confirmed release date, will also manage this feat.

However, once both devices do hit the shelves, there could be a whole array of impacts on gaming.

Speaking yesterday at London’s Wearable Technology Conference, Alan Maxwell, founder and CEO of String, said: “I think there’s going to be a question of ‘can we make these things too real?’”

Maxwell suggested that there could be unexpected consequences from such immersive gaming, and that this type of technology has never previously been at the level where it could involve gamers so completely.

There may well also be an impact on the way developers create games. “There’s definitely going to be a learning curve for developers,” said Maxwell.

With VR bringing gamers into the action, scenery details in games may become far more important to ensure immersion. In multiplayer situations, gamers may also start to demand a much higher quality of, and perhaps more customisable, avatar.

Another potential change is the type of environment games are played in. Computer games have of course always been tied to external screens, with consoles making TVs the gaming hubs of most households.

But with VR headsets, TVs could end up becoming utterly superfluous, potentially opening up a whole array of spaces as potential gaming environments.

For some developers, there is a serious crossover here with augmented reality, with headsets creating the potential for highly detailed, real world-based games. “Are we going to see new genres of games emerging?” asked Maxwell.

“Seeing Mr Stay Puft from Ghostbusters as you’re walking down the street – that’s the kind of visceral thing you don’t see from other media,” he added.

Maxwell also believes AR could change indoor gaming for the better. “Imagine seeing old board games coming back to life,” he said. “Think of AR Star Wars chess!”

Wanted man captured thanks to facial recognition

A Chinese man who was wanted by police for “economic crimes” – which can include anything from tax evasion to the theft of public property – was arrested at a music concert in China after facial recognition technology spotted him inside the venue.

SpaceX president commits to city-to-city rocket travel

SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell has reiterated the company’s plans to make city-to-city travel — on Earth — using a rocket that’s designed for outer space a reality. Shotwell says the tech will be operational “within a decade, for sure.”

Businessman wins battle with Google over 'right to be forgotten'

A businessman fighting for the "right to be forgotten" has won a UK High Court action against Google.. The businessman served six months’ in prison for “conspiracy to carry out surveillance”, and the judge agreed to an “appropriate delisting order".

UK launched cyber attack on Islamic State

The UK has conducted a "major offensive cyber campaign" against the Islamic State group, the director of the intelligence agency GCHQ, Jeremy Fleming, has revealed. The operation hindered the group's ability to co-ordinate attacks and suppressed its propaganda.

Goldman Sachs consider whether curing patients is bad for business

Goldman Sachs analysts have attempted to tackle the question of whether pioneering "gene therapy" treatment will be bad for business in the long run. "Is curing patients a sustainable business model?" analysts ask in a report entitled "The Genome Revolution."

Four-armed robot performing surgery in the UK

A £1.5m "robotic" surgeon, controlled using a computer console, is being used to shorten the time patients spend recovering after operations. The da Vinci Xi machine is the only one in the country being used for upper gastrointestinal surgery.

Virgin Galactic rocket planes go past the speed of sound

Virgin Galactic completed its first powered flight in nearly four years when Richard Branson's space company launched its Unity spacecraft, which reached supersonic speeds before safely landing. “We’ve been working towards this moment for a long time,” Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said in an email to Quartz.

Google employees protest being in "the business of war"

Thousands of Google employees, including dozens of senior engineers, have signed a letter protesting the company’s involvement in a Pentagon program that uses AI to interpret video imagery and could be used to improve the targeting of drone strikes. The letter, which is circulating inside Google, has garnered more than 3,100 signatures

Computer system transcribes words users “speak silently”

MIT researchers have developed a computer interface that transcribes words that the user verbalises internally but does not actually speak aloud. The wearable device picks up neuromuscular signals in the jaw and face that are triggered by internal verbalisations — saying words “in your head” — but are undetectable to the human eye.

Drones could be used to penalise bad farming

A report by a coalition of environmental campaigners is arguing squadrons of drones should be deployed to locate and penalise farmers who let soil run off their fields. Their report says drones can help to spot bad farming, which is said to cost more than £1.2bn a year by clogging rivers and contributing to floods.

Californian company unveil space hotel

Orion Span, a California company, has unveiled its Aurora Station, a commercial space station that would house a luxury hotel. The idea is to put the craft in low-earth orbit, about 200 miles up, with a stay at the hotel likely to cost $9.5 million for a 12-day trip, but you can reserve a spot now with an $80,000 deposit.

UK mobile operators pay close to £1.4bn for 5G

An auction of frequencies for the next generation of mobile phone networks has raised £1.36bn, says regulator Ofcom. Vodafone, EE, O2 and Three all won the bandwidth needed for the future 5G mobile internet services, which are not expected to be launched until 2020.